Time and Newsweek refer to the 1969 election the "dirtiest, most violent and most corrupt" in
Philippine modern history,
with the term "Three Gs", meaning "guns, goons, and gold which describe Marcos’ election tactics
of vote-buying, terrorism and ballot snatching.
As Marcos administration spending was heavily reliant on debt since his first term in the
1960s, the Philippines became very vulnerable when interest rates increased in the 1980s, began
to decline and experienced the worst recession in its history in 1984 and 1985.
To support his administration’s construction projects, Marcos began tapping foreign loans,
creating a budget deficit 72% higher than the Philippine government's annual deficit from 1961
to 1965.
During Martial Law, there were at least 3257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented
tortures, 77 forced disappearances, and 70,000 incarcerations in the Philippines among other
human rights abuses.
Marcos admitted in the 1977 World Peace through law Conference in Manila that "there have been,
to our lasting regret, a number of violations of the rights of detainees".
